Nurse Lee Chorong picked up one of the collected cell phones and checked the time, and her legs momentarily gave out.
Thud.
“Haaah. Today’s consultations are over.”
Everyone stared at her with dazed expressions.
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
Snap.
Nurse Lee Chorong proudly held out the phone.
The time filling the screen was just past the end of consultation hours.
Only then did they realize it had grown dark around them.
No, it would be more accurate to say that only then did they have the leisure to look around.
“It’s evening.”
“When did it get this late?”
“Aigoo.”
Thud, thud.
One after another, those whose tension had drained away collapsed.
They drew in breaths, some deep, some shallow.
Taesu was among them.
With all the strength gone from his face, he looked down at the table.
Rustle.
The first draft of the medical records was as thick as a book.
“Wow.”
Even he was surprised.
It was the first time since the first day of their dispatch that patients had flooded in like this.
That was how hectic the day had been, and now it had finally ended.
Could they rest a little now?
Of course they should have been able to rest.
But it was then.
“Hey. Hey.”
An urgent voice pricked their ears.
The expressions of Taesu and everyone else instantly stiffened.
“What is it now?”
“Let us rest a little.”
The uproar wasn’t only here.
“What the……”
“Wasn’t it over?”
Tension could be felt from the other tents as well.
Then the gazes of all the medical staff in every medical tent turned in one direction.
Toward the school.
A volunteer was running toward them from there in a fluster.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The way he was waving his hands roughly was strange.
“Could it be Shanmeheum?”
“What?”
“No way.”
“First, grab—”
Just as things were about to grow chaotic, movement was spotted at Medical Tent 3.
Step.
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had stepped out in front of the tent, recognized the other person.
“Yupi?”
“Huff, huff, Mister Kim.”
“What’s going on?”
Kim Hyeokgwon looked ready to run over if necessary.
Once the distance between them had narrowed somewhat, the volunteer called Yupi panted and said,
“Doc, Doctor Kim……”
“I’m Mister Kim.”
“No, huff, no, no, whew, I mean Brad Kim.”
The moment he said the full name.
Step.
Taesu came up beside Kim Hyeokgwon and asked,
“Yupi, what about Brad?”
“Doctor Choi, Doctor Jeong, and Mister Kim too. He called for you.”
“Called for us? Did something happen to Shanmeheum?”
Taesu asked, his expression hardening.
Yupi pointed toward the school and quickly answered.
“He woke up.”
“Emerg…… What?”
“Shanmeheum woke up. Whew.”
After delivering the news again, Yupi caught his breath.
Taesu’s gaze, meanwhile, immediately flew toward the school.
Whip.
“He woke up?”
“It is an emergency, though the meaning’s different.”
Kim Hyeokgwon muttered under his breath.
At that same moment.
Whoosh.
Jeong Minsu shot past like lightning, shouting,
“Taesu, Mr. Hyeokgwon. Hurry.”
At that shout, Taesu came to his senses as well.
If Shanmeheum had woken up, of course they had to go.
An unknown vitality surged through the body that, until just moments ago, had been so exhausted it was hard to lift even a finger.
“Right, let’s go. Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Dadadak.
Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon ran at full speed from the very start.
Meanwhile, the medical staff inside the medical tents set down their tension.
“It is an emergency.”
“Haha. A real emergency is an emergency, all right.”
“A pleasant emergency.”
“It’s nice to end the day cleanly.”
The medical staff smiled gently as they watched Taesu and the other two hurrying away from behind.
A moment later.
Dadadak.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon were sprinting down the school hallway.
The temporary ward came into view up ahead.
In front of it stood Shanmeheum’s guardians.
Every one of them had dark circles under their eyes.
Since guardians were forbidden from entering the ward, they still didn’t know the situation properly.
A heart startled by a turtle will scream at the sight of a pot lid.
Seeing the three of them suddenly running over like racehorses, the guardians seemed to feel intense anxiety.
They had to consider that feeling even a second sooner.
Taesu, now in front, passed by them and shouted, short and firm,
“He woke up.”
“@%^#@.”
Kim Hyeokgwon, who was running behind him, immediately translated.
At that news, the guardians’ eyes opened wide.
“@#@$%……”
“#%$#@……”
Their pupils shook violently, and tears began to gather.
But just as their reaction was about to begin in earnest.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The three of them passed the guardians like lightning.
Then they hurriedly opened the door to the temporary ward and slipped inside.
The three of them entered the temporary ward at the same time.
Beep, beep.
The steady sound of the ECG sounded like music.
And the real Brad Kim was seated calmly by the bedside.
No, even a faint smile hovered around his mouth.
Taesu, quick to catch on, said,
“Brad.”
“Oh, you’re here?”
As expected, Brad Kim’s voice was bright.
Step.
Taesu approached him in an instant and asked about the main point first.
“You said he woke up. He really woke up, right?”
“See for yourself.”
“I’m going to.”
His gaze, faster than his words, was already turned toward the bed.
Tap.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon arrived right away as well.
Standing side by side at the bed, the three of them looked down at Shanmeheum.
Shanmeheum was truly awake.
“Hoo, hoo.”
He was breathing through the ventilator as he faced them.
Shanmeheum’s clear, vivid eyes filled their sight.
It was the first moment they saw each other.
In the minds of Taesu and the other two, everything flashed by.
From emergency treatment to surgery.
Every step of the process passed through their heads.
And now, the moment of meeting had come.
Their hearts swelled.
“Ah.”
“You little guy.”
“Hah.”
Each of the three let out a word and smiled gently.
But it was then.
Shanmeheum’s eyebrows gradually drew together.
Then his eyes, too, began darting left and right as if they had lost their way.
Reading that expression, Taesu flinched.
“Fear?”
“He’s afraid of us? Kid, that’s a bit much.”
Jeong Minsu’s face filled with hurt.
Placing a hand on Jeong Minsu’s shoulder, Brad Kim quietly appeared beside him.
“Strange foreign men suddenly staring at him. How could he not be scared?”
“Th, ah…… Still.”
“What do you mean, still? I tried saying a few things to him, and it seems like he remembers clearly.”
At that, Taesu glanced at him.
“You talked?”
“I’m the one who sent Yupi.”
“Ah, right.”
“Anyway, take it slow and start with introductions.”
After saying that, Brad Kim stepped back again.
It seemed he had deliberately shown himself so Shanmeheum wouldn’t be too startled.
Taesu looked back at Shanmeheum.
A slightly tense look could still be seen in his eyes.
It could have been disappointing to see him wary of the very people who had struggled so hard for him.
But Taesu smiled gently.
“Right. You arrived yesterday with almost no consciousness. There’s no way you’d recognize us.”
“Should I translate that?”
“No. Please say this instead.”
“What?”
Kim Hyeokgwon asked curiously.
Still keeping Shanmeheum in his eyes, Taesu opened his mouth.
“Hello, I’m Doctor Choi. It’s truly good to meet you.”
His voice was endlessly soft and calm.
There wasn’t even a speck of regret over Shanmeheum not recognizing him.
He was grateful for this moment, for Shanmeheum being conscious like this and looking at him.
Enough time to drink a cup of tea passed.
During that time, with Kim Hyeokgwon’s interpretation, they exchanged greetings.
After the greetings, they waited a little.
It was time for the anxious Shanmeheum to find his calm.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon, all smiling softly, never rushed him.
They all had tempers, but before a patient, they were simply gentle lambs.
Shanmeheum couldn’t ease his tension in the unfamiliar situation.
Honestly, it seemed as if it would become an indefinite wait.
But Shanmeheum’s tension slowly melted in the gentle atmosphere.
“Haaah, ##$……”
A faint sound came.
Whoosh.
Kim Hyeokgwon reflexively bent down and translated the sound he heard.
“He says he thinks he vaguely remembers.”
“Remembers?”
“He says it was the sight of many people calling his name.”
“It must have been when he arrived at the medical tent.”
Taesu answered calmly, recalling the memory.
Nod.
Jeong Minsu also expressed agreement with a small nod.
Before they knew it, Brad Kim was standing side by side with them.
It seemed this was the first time Brad Kim was hearing what was being said now as well.
Even then, Shanmeheum’s hazy voice continued.
Kim Hyeokgwon focused his ears and added,
“He says at some point everything turned black.”
“His consciousness must have grown hazy.”
“He says it felt like he was falling endlessly.”
“Because he fell from a tree?”
Taesu offered his own conjecture.
Taesu focused even more on his conversation with Shanmeheum.
Soon, Kim Hyeokgwon’s interpretation continued.
“He says he fell, and fell, and fell again.”
“Poor thing.”
“He says it was so frightening.”
It was when Kim Hyeokgwon had said that much.
Tears slowly began to gather in Shanmeheum’s eyes as he looked up at the ceiling.
It must have been a moment that might not even have been a dream.
And yet the despair and fear he had felt there seemed to have returned to him.
“You poor kid.”
Taesu’s expression also turned sorrowful.
What Shanmeheum was speaking of now must have been something he felt while unconscious.
Taesu cautiously judged that perhaps the flame of life that had been going out had been expressed that way.
From time to time, he had met patients who had felt something while unconscious at the crossroads of life and death.
It appeared especially often in patients whose lives had been in danger during surgery.
It was a phenomenon not yet explained by modern medicine.
Taesu did not try to analyze it seriously in medical terms.
At this moment, he simply listened with a pure heart.
That was a small courtesy toward Shanmeheum, who was bringing up difficult words.
Even then, Shanmeheum seemed to continue speaking.
Kim Hyeokgwon also suppressed the emotion stirring inside him as he interpreted.
“He says it was a pitch-black night with nothing in it.”
“Mm.”
“He says he called and called for his mom and dad, and kept calling for his eldest sister, his older brothers and sisters, and his younger siblings while crying.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s voice gradually sank lower.
It was a reaction as if he had felt those emotions himself.